Leila Bartell is a London-based contemporary artist and film director whose work investigates perception, memory and consciousness through layered, abstracted landscapes.

Her painting practice draws on philosophy, personal memory and the natural world, exploring how internal and external realities blur. Often working in dialogue with art history, Bartell reframes the landscape tradition through a contemporary lens, creating immersive environments where time, thought and emotion converge.

Since fully committing to painting in 2021, she has exhibited in London, Los Angeles and across Europe. Her 2024 solo exhibition at Daniel Katz Gallery formed a contemporary conversation with Filippo Parodi’s Baroque sculpture, while her 2025 exhibition Memory Fields at Tristan Hoare Gallery reimagined Constable’s skies through the lens of instability and shifting perception.

While primarily a painter, Bartell also works in film when a story or theme calls for a different medium. Her short films address complex human experiences, from the realities of modern-day slavery and the aftermath of sexual violence to more abstract explorations of trauma, renewal and psychological interiority. Through movement, sound and quiet symbolism, her films extend her ongoing inquiry into perception and the unseen. Though distinct in form, both practices arise from the same impulse: to explore what resists language and to open portals into deeper perception.

Bartell was selected for Harper’s Bazaar Germany’s 2025 Art List, highlighting leading international artists shaping contemporary culture. Her work is held in a European public museum collection and in private collections across Europe, the Middle East and the United States.